The Australian, Australia
Sept 8 2008

Turkish leader in peace mission

YEREVAN: Armenia and Turkey pledged to overcome decades of enmity over
the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces, after Turkish President
Abdullah Gul’s pathbreaking visit to Yerevan for a soccer match.

Mr Gul, the first Turkish president to visit Armenia, held talks on
Saturday with counterpart Serzh Sarkisian, after which the two agreed
there was the "political will" to improve ties frozen for decades over
the 1915-17 massacres by Turkish troops.

The visit was hailed by French and EU President Nicolas Sarkozy as
"courageous and historic".

"I believe that my visit was fruitful and that it promises hope for
the future," Mr Gul said after returning to Ankara.

He said he had won Yerevan’s support for a new regional grouping in
the Caucasus following last month’s conflict between Georgia and
Russia.

"I underlined that there is no problem that dialogue cannot solve," Mr
Gul said.

But in a sign of the task ahead, his visit was dogged by
protesters. Carrying Armenian flags and signs reading "Recognise the
genocide", hundreds lined the road from the airport as his convoy
headed to the Armenian President’s offices.

"We are here because we want to tell the entire world that we do not
forget the genocide of 1915. We will not welcome Mr Gul or any other
Turk until they have recognised the genocide," protester Bardasar
Akhpar said.

Mr Gul’s arrival at Yerevan’s Hrazdan stadium was greeted by loud boos
and hisses by Armenian fans.

Mr Gul took his seat behind a special bullet-proof area. The far
stronger Turkish side ended up winning the match 2-0, but was
supported by only about 200 forlorn followers in a seating area that
could have held 10 times more and was ringed by Armenian police.

At the start of the match, about 80 young protesters gathered at a
monument to victims of the killings in central Yerevan, laying flowers
and lighting torches.

"People have gathered here to show that the young generation remembers
everything," organiser Airapet Babaian said.

Mr Sarkisian declared there was a "political will to decide the
questions between our countries, so that these problems are not passed
on to the next generation".

Armenians say that up to 1.5million of their people were killed in
orchestrated massacres during World War I as the Ottoman Empire fell
apart – a claim supported by other countries. Turkey rejects the
genocide label and argues that 300,000-500,000 Armenians and at least
as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians took up arms for
independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with invading Russian
troops.

The countries have no diplomatic relations.